FROM THE DESK OF THE STATE LIBRARIAN

For more than 30 years the Talking Books Section of the N.H. State Library has served the blind and physically handicapped residents of New Hampshire. Currently the staff in the Section, located on the old State Hospital grounds in Concord serve approximately 2,000 clients ranging in age from 6 to 90. Talking books have been available to the blind and physically handicapped since the Library of Congress founded the program in 1931. Through its affiliates, The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) serve 750,000 clients nationwide. The materials are supplied free-of-charge to the clients, all shipping costs to the clients are also free-of-charge. The Readers' Advisors at Talking Books work closely with the clients to assist them in their selection of materials.

As with everything in our society, in the 75 years since the introduction of talking books to the public by the Library of Congress, we have seen dramatic changes in technology. The first talking books were records that played on a player that was supplied by NLS. The records were 12 inches in diameter and played at a speed 33 1/3.

The records served the NLS until the early 1970's when a switch was made to cassette tapes which are still in use today. The cassettes have been quite durable lasting 40 years; about the same amount of time as the original records. The National Library Service has been developing a new virtual medium known as the Digital Talking Books (DTB). The original of the book will be in digital format that will be transferred to a flash memory chip that will be imbedded into a carrier, a little smaller than the current cassette. The advantage is that it will be much easier to use and the flash memory chip will be able to hold more data than the cassettes. This means there will be fewer items for the client to handle. Many of the books in the collection now take as many as 6 cassettes to hold all the materials in the books. The Digital Talking Book that has been in development for a number of years will help improve the operations. However, the human element will not change. The important interaction between the service and the client is done by the readers' advisors and the entire staff of the Talking Books Section. It has always been this way and this component of services will not change. The members of the Talking Books Section include: John Barrett, Supervisor, Betty Clark, Brenda Corey, Jody Matisko, and Pam Ober. The new format, although similar in size and features, will improve use by the clients.

Eileen Keim was the first Director of the New Hampshire Talking Books; she opened the Talking Books Library in 1970 and retired in 2001; Donna Gilbreth served from 2001 until 2004 when John Barrett took over. The staff does an outstanding job of serving clients for which they have responsibility. The Reader's Advisors work closely with readers to get them the books they need. Each day the Talking Books Section ships more than 600 Talking Books to clients all over New Hampshire

-Michael York, State Librarian